The King Is Blind, purveyors of Apocalyptic post-Grind, will deliver their masterpiece sophomore album We Are The Parasite, We Are The Cancer on Friday 13th October 2017 via their own label, Calva Records.

Following on from the critically acclaimed debut Our Father (Cacophonous), which was described as “a devastatingly potent and exciting heavy metal album” by METAL HAMMER, “just a fucking incredible heavy metal record” by THAT’S NOT METAL PODCAST, and receiving of a prestigious KKKK from Kerrang!, TKIB have taken their core of Monolithic (HEAVY) Metal, and upped the ante to deliver a pestilent, yet intricate, diverse and fully developed Extreme Metal album with crossover potential.

Of said opus, guitarist & riff-merchant Lee James Appleton decrees:

“I wanted the music to really move people physically and emotionally, and inject it with an overflowing of raw energy and power. We spent a lot of time experimenting with the core tones for the drums and guitars, but also meticulously digging into the concept of the record and locating and manipulating a variety of samples and atmospherics to act as a sixth member to give the material a much deeper, abstract dimension, in the same way that Pink Floyd might have done.

“We made a promise to each other to show no mercy on this album, take ourselves to the edge of our capabilities and stay there until the job was done. Combining that inspiration with our integral influences of Celtic Frost, Candlemass, Napalm Death, Neurosis et al made for an extremely satisfying creative process which has helped us produce the album of our lives!”

While ramping up the grind and alternative influences, We Are The Parasite, We Are The Cancer is undoubtedly an aggressive metal album, enhanced by a multi-layered concept, thematically dissecting modern society via an allegorical scripture unveiled over the heaviest music, most foul.

Of the surface and outer layer of the concept, vocalist Stephen John Tovey states:

“Conceptually, WATPWATC HAD to work on multiple planes of comprehension to fully realize this complex vision we had for a complete album. On one hand it tells a linear story, continuing the “I/He”, “Satan/God” dynamic from the first album, but, and this was most important, this time it is wholly contemporary.

“The cosmetic arc shows “Satan” attempt to realize his intentions to utterly destroy God and claim dominion over mankind, to continue to draw power from our abuse of the sins in perpetuity, by sending down the Seven Princes of Hell to reinforce the prevalence of the Seven Deadly Sins.”

As we begin to peel back the layers, he continues:

“We live in twisted times. In the modern, Western world, man has freed himself from the shackles of his own interpretation and manipulated restrictions of organised religion, and in doing so has shunned God. New Jerusalem (modern day Earth) has failed. It is not a moral, just, spiritual, liberal or fair society we inhabit as “we” have rejected religion by exercising what we think of as free will. We have replaced morality and spirituality with Capitalism Commercialism, Consumerism; the modern politics of self-interest and corruption… the Seven Sins in extremis…We have turned from a moral centre due to our own inexplicable subversions of the basic tenets of spiritual faith and replaced God with Sin.

“The album is presented as an amalgam of “story” songs (which themselves discuss this amoral, anti-spiritual situation) and Seven “Plague” songs, which each examine how lust, gluttony, wrath etc manifest in a post-truth, fake-news present day; a present day where we are faced with a divided and divisive society, led by self-interested celebrity politicians.

“We have been manipulated and are trapped by a modern existence subsuming us with vice, apathy and immorality, one we’ve been cajoled into creating since entering the post-industrial revolution age… WATPWATC is a multi-faceted, angry and frustrated take on a world where, seemingly, free will has led us to a disturbing place where it appears we actually have no choice but to accept things spiralling further into hate…”

The band recorded once more with sonic genius Tom Donovan at Tom Donovan Studio in Rowhedge, Essex, and the album was mixed and mastered by Dan Abela. Kieran Wakeman of Divine Chaos Art has produced the visuals, including band photography, the soon-to-be-iconic album artwork and the upcoming first video, ‘GodFrost’, both of which will be revealed shortly.

Having developed a fearless and bellicose live reputation after standing toe to toe with Decapitated, Akercocke, Sylosis, Winterfylleth, Voices, Fen, Belphagor, Hour of Penance, Desecration and others, garnering rampant plaudits from festival performances (“The underground is full of great bands, but TKIB are one of the best by far” – METAL HAMMER on TKIB at Download 2016) and in the indoor sweat-boxes the band thrive in (“The King Is Blind whip up quite the cacophony of neck-thickening grooves” KKKKK – KERRANG! on TKIB w/Akercocke, October 2016), WATPWATC sees the band release not just a statement of intent, but THE statement of UK underground metal magnificence of this decade.

We Are The Parasite, We Are The Cancer is released worldwide on Friday 13th October by Calva Records.

Following their recent successful outing at Incineration Festival, apocalyptic post-Grind Metallers The King Is Blind return to the nations capital to bring the fury as Special Guests to wintry Black Metal stallions Fen on Friday 8th September 2017 as part of a Retribution Alive event.

TKIB will be ramping up the campaign on the road to releasing their hotly anticipated sophomore release, more details of which are to no doubt surface in the coming weeks.

Three of the UK’s finest exponents of Extreme Music arrive at The Portland Arms in a stunning line up to pulverize your senses and raise money for Jimmy’s Night Shelter in Cambridge City Centre on Sunday 7th May 2017.

Having destroyed the stages of every major UK Metal Festival over the last 18 months and recently completed full UK tours with noise titans Akercocke and Winterfylleth, The King Is Blind bring you their unique brand of monolithic, grinding Metal.

Support comes from classy, alt-metal heroes Shrines and the relentless darkness of Terra.

“As a Cambridge resident, the situation with homelessness in the City seems to have got much worse over the last 12 months or so. Its something we all see and think: “that’s really awful, but what can I do?” The team at Jimmy’s Night Shelter run a vital emergency service in the City to support men and women who are in desperate need, and this gig is all about raising funds for them and the critical work they do. The guys in all the bands, especially those of us who live locally, agreed to do the gig immediately, such is the respect we have for Barry and all the team at Jimmy’s.”

Rabid to return to the live arena, and armed with a relentless arsenal of savagery incarnate that will infest their upcoming second album (release details to follow later in the year), Monolithic Metallers The King Is Blind have been confirmed as playing Incineration Fest‘s Main Stage (Tufnell Park Dome, NW5 1HL) on Saturday 13th May.

TKIB will join 2016 touring buddies, the legendary experimental Death Metal troupe Akercocke, Temple of Baal and Cult of Fire in setting light to the gathered baying hordes of Extreme Metal fans on a lineup headlined by Thrash Metal legends, Sodom.

The festival lineup for the Sunday includes 1349, Samael, whose Ceremony Of Opposites is a personal favourite of the TKIB lads, and Dyscarnate amongst others.

Legendary metal compilation series Speed Kills has been resurrected by seminal record label Music For Nations, and The King Is Blind are delighted to confirm they have contributed a track for the release.

Written specifically for, and with the heritage of the compilation in mind, ‘Throne of Skulls’ is a brand new track, exclusively available to Speed Kills 7, which is released on digital and vinyl on 2nd December 2016.

With the first edition of Speed Kills featuring Metallica, Slayer, Venom, CelticFrost and Megadeth, and subsequent issues showcasing the mercurial talents of Bathory, Helloween, Anthrax and Death amongst many other thrash, death and HEAVY metal bands, The King Is Blind join a celebrated cast, past and present as this current volume showcases the best of British underground talent, including former TKIB tour partners Akercocke and Voices.

Guitarist Lee Appleton was in bullish mood:

“This savage joint demonstrates the wimp-crushing style we will deliver on our soon-to-be-recorded second album.”

while vocalist Steve Tovey waxed lyrical:

“Speed Kills is a celebrated and historic compilation series, a thing of actual and genuine legend, and it is a significant moment for us to not only be asked to contribute a track, but to kick matters off, sitting proudly as Side 1, track 1! MFN was such a huge label for us growing up, and many of our favourite bands throughout our teens released great albums on Music For Nations and it’s a humbling moment to sit amongst some of our absolute heroes.

In terms of concept, the song acts as a bridge from our first album (Our Father) and our second, linking the stories of the two, and bringing matters crashing through the firmament, and studded fistedly, out of the biblical into modern times.”